When the Emmy nominations were announced in July, it didn’t take long for media outlets to grab on to a buzzy figure: Out of the 18 lead actress nominees, 15 were over the age of 35.

This year, actresses and comedians have been particularly vocal about Hollywood’s sexist ageism. In April, Amy Schumerreleased the now-famous sketch “Last Fuckable Day,” a Last Supper of sorts with Patricia Arquette, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Tina Fey, who riffed on the industry’s disposal of over-the-hill women. The clip quickly went viral (what’s more clickable than the sad truth?). It also, coincidentally, is up for an Emmy for editing today.

In May, 37-year-old Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed that she lost out on a role opposite a 55-year-old man because, she was told, she was too old. “It was astonishing to me,” she said. “It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh.” Helen Mirren was irked on Gyllenhaal’s behalf. “It’s fucking outrageous,” she said. “We all sat there watching . . . as James Bond got more and more geriatric, and as his girlfriends got younger and younger.” The industry still has a long way to go, but we may be seeing the first signs of a much-needed course correction. To Mirren’s example, while James Bond has been going gray for years, a Bond Girl is typically a bouncy ingénue. This year, Spectre bucks tradition and pairs Daniel Craig with the 50-year-old beauty Monica Bellucci. And while Sam Mendes’s casting choice might seem like a small gesture, high-grossing films like the Bond series are often the most egregious offenders. University of Southern California Professor Stacy L. Smith conducted a study that assessed the speaking characters of the top-grossing films from 2007 to 2014. The results were bleak: Of female characters, women aged 40 to 64 got the least amount of screen time, and of all the characters in that age range examined (more than 9,000 in 700 films), only 21.8 percent were women.

But there is one area where older actresses have consistently outperformed their younger peers, and that is awards-show nominations. Out of the 10 nominees for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress at this year’s Academy Awards, just three women were under the age of 35 (and it was only two last year). Why are this year’s female Emmy and Oscar nominees older than the typical leading lady?

Perhaps because, although opportunities are limited, when they’re made available to more seasoned actresses, the results speak for themselves. While we love it when cultural critics like Schumer shine a light on the absurdities and prejudices of Hollywood, the industry only need look at its own awards shows to conclude that one of its most overlooked demographics produces some of its best work.